Old bricks meet new in this bold corner build that easily fits a garage, pool, studio apartment and roof deck onto a laneway location in inner-city Melbourne. Being asked to demolish a recent build isn’t ‘It was fairly straightforward, the main challenge usually a vote of confidence. But for Vince was access, and the tight space within the area,’ BUILDER: Sainato of TCM Building Group the demolition he says. TCM Building Group job was a positive, because it meant the client The laneway access presented some difficulties LOCATION: wanted to work with him again on the same site. with getting equipment and materials in, and the Richmond, Melbourne In fact they wanted to replace the simple studio TCM backyard area that Vince and TCM Building Group TIME: built for them in 2010 with a more substantial backyard worked in eight years ago is now taken up with the 7 months build. And the result is a glamorous apartment fit for new swimming pool. COST: an aristocrat, or in this case, ready for adult children ‘The pool came during the build,’ explains Vince. Around $650,000 to move into, when they spread their wings. ‘We had to basically do our slab first, and then ‘It was a great build to be part of,’ Vince says. ‘It’s the pool. We had to get the pool shell in prior to us quite striking, it’s in a laneway, but it is well known in building from the slab up, so the build process was the area, so it is a nice feather in our cap.’ interlinked.’ The main walls of the Brickface build are It turns out that one of the hardest tasks on this constructed using recycled red brick interspersed build was removing the original small studio. with contrasting red and blue glazed bricks to add ‘The biggest concern was demolishing – I knew colour, pattern and moving shadows. Recycled brick how well we built it, and we had a large excavator is often required in heritage overlays, but in this case on site breaking up the old slab and it took a lot it was a deliberate choice. longer than we’d anticipated. The demolished ‘That was a design feature from the architect Mark concrete was sent away for recycling into crushed BRICKFACE Austin,’ Vince says. ‘Using the recycled brick was concrete – and there was plenty of it. FITS INTO [intended] to make the build look like it’s been there ‘It was quite an arduous task to be honest. We did ITS MODEST for a while,’ he explains. put a lot of concrete into that, and it bore out in the LANEWAY And it does. Brickface fits into its modest laneway demolishing of it, that it did take a bit to get it down.’ LOCATION location like it was always there. Although the large But the hard work has paid off, with a stunning LIKE IT WAS round windows provide a clue that this is no ordinary result and added space into the bargain. Even ALWAYS THERE back shed. Vince is impressed, and he has been a project The view is even more intriguing from the manager on house builds for more than 20 years. background swimming pool around the corner, ‘It has a great feel about it, and they’ve got the where the brightly glazed PGH bricks, arched roof terrace now as well, with city views. So they’ve doorway and spiral stairs can be seen softening the increased the area and it is a better use of the hard corners of the solid brick wall. space than what was there originally.’ Inside these walls this studio home remains bold The rooftop doubles as a productive garden, and is and bright, with blue walls and ceiling, and round accessed via an external spiral staircase, offset from porthole windows. The effect is striking, but for HIA the wall, with a gangplank leading to the terrace. member Vince Sainato this was just another build, The staircase looks sensational, but it went albeit using various custom and recycled elements. together easily. Photos: Tess Kelly bold THE MAIN CHALLENGE WAS colours and ACCESS, AND THE TIGHT SPACE interesting textures MAY 2018 HOUSING 31 PROJECTS